A meteoroid about 6 feet across and weighing roughly 7 tons streaked over the central United States, producing a bright fireball and a loud sonic boom that startled residents across several states. Observers from Maryland to Michigan reported seeing the object and hearing an explosion-like shock wave; police radio captured calls about a loud boom that shook buildings in some areas.
NASA’s Bill Cooke, who tracks incoming meteoroids, said the object — estimated to be about 6 feet in diameter and traveling around 45,000 miles per hour — was too small to have been tracked before it entered the atmosphere. The intense pressure as it plunged into denser air caused it to explode in a shock wave over Medina County, Ohio; that blast produced the sonic boom people heard and felt. Cooke said some tiny fragments may have survived passage through the atmosphere and reached the ground, though most such objects vaporize.
Fireballs of this size flash across North America about once a month. Most small asteroids and meteoroids — roughly 95 percent — burn up before reaching Earth’s surface; it’s the remaining, rarer few percent that can produce fragments or powerful airbursts. Scientists say such events can originate from small asteroids migrating inward from the asteroid belt or from fragments of larger bodies, and often their exact origin is unknown until recovered material can be analyzed.
Videos and eyewitness accounts captured the streaking light and subsequent boom; some residents initially thought they were witnessing an explosion. Meteor experts continue to monitor reports and look for any recovered pieces that could help characterize the object.